Philadelphia Eagles news and links for 11/10/20.

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Carson Wentz’s stunning decline: Inside the slide from 2017 to where he is now - The Athletic
When there’s a lack of trust, Wentz holds the ball, processes slowly and gets caught between his natural aggressive instincts and the coaching points that instruct him to take what the defense is giving him. This version of Wentz takes too many sacks (and fumbles too often). He leaves plays on the field. He thinks too much and gets lost inside his own head. He tries to be Superman on each and every play. This is the version of Wentz that the Eagles need to get rid of. The next eight games offer a wide range of outcomes. Given the healthy supporting cast around him, Wentz could settle into his comfort zone and perform like a top-10 quarterback with the Eagles finding their way, winning the NFC East and maybe even making some noise in the playoffs. On the other hand, if his bad habits from the first half of the season continue, it’s not crazy to envision a scenario in which the Eagles sit Wentz and give Jalen Hurts a shot at some point. Even after Wentz suffered the ACL injury in 2017, the quarterback situation seemed as settled as it had ever been in franchise history. Three years later, that’s no longer the case.

What’s wrong with Eagles’ Carson Wentz? Can he be fixed? Here’s what the experts said - NJ.com
Trust and previous history will only hold the depth chart in place for so long. If Wentz continues to struggle, he will sink the Eagles’ hopes of repeating as division champions for the first time since 2004. The NFC East is weak and the Eagles have to take advantage. Ultimately, Jaworski thinks Wentz has the mental and physical makeup to turn things around and lead the Eagles back to the playoffs. “I’m sure there are some mental demons going through his head — which happens to everybody when they’re struggling — but he’s just going to have to fight his way through it and deal with it and he will be better for it,” Jaworski said. “He will be a better quarterback down the road for having this slump right now.”

Predicting the remaining games on the Eagles’ 2020 schedule - BGN
With the Philadelphia Eagles coming off their bye week, it’s time for my annual “predict the outcome of the team’s remaining games” post here at Bleeding Green Nation. Why should you care about this activity, you ask? Well, you might want to consider that I can see into the future. In 2017, I predicted the Eagles would finish 13-3 and win the Super Bowl. That happened. In 2018, I predicted the Eagles would make the playoffs and lose to the New Orleans Saints in the Divisional Round. That happened. In 2019, I predicted the Eagles would finish 9-7. That happened. Of course, I had the Eagles failing to make the playoffs last year, but ... shut up. It’s still a decent track record! And now here’s what I’m envisioning for the rest of 2020.

NFC Hierarchy/Obituary: Week 10 - PhillyVoice
8) Eagles (3-4-1): On their week off, the Eagles saw the Football Team go down, the Cowboys lose another game, and the Giants help ruin their draft position. They now have a commanding lead in the NFC East, lol. In games played outside of the division, the NFC East’s teams are now 2-17-1 (.125). If the Eagles can win just two more games this season, then one of the other teams in the division will have to find a way to at least go .500 or better the rest of the way to beat them out. Does anyone see any of these other three teams winning four more games? [...] 7) Bears (5-4): Three weeks ago, the Bears were 5-1 and looking like they would easily claim a playoff berth, even if they didn’t exactly look like a good football team. They’re now 5-4, and they’re 2.5-point home dogs to a 3-5 team (the Vikings) Week 10. We all love Nick Foles, right? Great guy. Cute daughter. Super Bowl hero. Etc. etc. Buuuuuut, he’s not the answer as a regular starter in the NFL, and never really has been. In Chicago, there are calls to bench him and go back to Mitch freaking Trubisky, and they’re probably not wrong.

Is there a case for the Eagles to start Jordan Mailata ahead of Jason Peters at left tackle? - Inquirer
Jordan Mailata is among those who have filled starting spots for an extended period and will likely be relegated to reserve roles once the regulars ahead of them return. He had already been supplanted at left tackle when Jason Peters came back, but Lane Johnson’s likely return this week should end Mailata’s one-game run at right tackle. “I think I’m at running back this week,” Mailata joked when asked where he practiced Monday. Some fans wouldn’t mind seeing the former rugby player with the ball in his hands, but many have gotten used to seeing the third-year offensive lineman protecting Carson Wentz’s blindside. Mailata has had his inconsistencies in four starts at left tackle, but he also showed enough promise for the future. In some corners, he’s done enough to warrant a permanent stay at left tackle. Peters hadn’t performed well before the knee injury that sidelined the 38-year old. But Mailata might have needed to be perfect to keep coach Doug Pederson from going back to the future Hall of Famer.

How Pederson keeps forgetting Sanders and more in Roob’s random Eagles observations - NBCSP
5. After the starts they got, I thought maybe we were going to see some big things this year from Derek Barnett and Josh Sweat. Barnett had 2½ sacks in his first three games and Sweat had 3.0 sacks in his first four games. Since then? Sweat has gone four straight games without a sack and Barnett has one in his last four games. They’ve both been active, playing hard, getting occasional pressure, tough against the run. But these guys are getting paid to sack the quarterback, and after the quick start, it’s been like the last couple years. The only outside pressure the Eagles have gotten the last month has been from 32-year-old Brandon Graham.

‘Maybe Next Year’ Captures Eagles Fandom’s Strange Relationship With Success - The Ringer
“It’s kind of like [after] a bad breakup, [when] you start to fall in love again,” Kyle Thrash said about rooting for the Eagles. “You think, ‘I remember this, I know the feeling.’ But then you don’t want to get too ahead of yourself. It’s like ‘pump the brakes, don’t get hurt.’” Spoken like a Philadelphian. That’s where the filmmaker was born. Thrash’s mom likes to tell people how she had the Phillies game on in the hospital during labor. As the story goes, Lenny Dykstra hit a double as Thrash was being delivered. It was a good day for the family. That’s the kind of feeling that Thrash, the director of a new documentary about the Eagles and their fan base, wanted to get at in his film. It’s called Maybe Next Year and will be on the usual platforms on Tuesday, November 10.

Golden Tate back with Giants - Big Blue View
New York Giants coach Joe Judge said Monday that wide receiver Golden Tate, left behind as a disciplinary measure when the team traveled to face the Washington Football Team over the weekend is back with the Giants and expected to play in Week 10 vs. the Philadelphia Eagles. “He was back in there with us today working,” Judge said, indicating Tate will practice on Wednesday. “I would anticipate Golden being active (on Sunday vs. the Philadelphia Eagles). I have no reason to believe he wouldn’t be active at this point.”

Mike McCarthy press conference: Coach backs Andy Dalton as starter when healthy, no update on Trevon Diggs - Blogging The Boys
“Fair and accurate” to say that Andy Dalton will remain starter. Stephen Jones said on Monday that Andy Dalton, when healthy, will remain the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. Mike McCarthy said that he felt that was a “fair and accurate” statement but that he didn’t want to take away from anything that Garrett Gilbert did. He said he was hopeful Dalton could pick up where he left off.

Washington Vs. New York Giants - Studs and Duds - Hogs Haven
Duds. Alex Smith - You can argue about this one all you want, but when you are in a position to put points on the board, or in the middle of a drive and you turn the ball over, you come out a DUD! Sure he moved the football and found open receivers, and you can say the first interception wasn’t even his fault - but then I’m going to say, why was he throwing a 2 yard pass anyways with two defenders bearing down on McKissic before he slipped to the turf? The last two interceptions were just inexcusable!

Raiders’ Unlikely Hero a Credit to Their Depth; How Will Haskins Handle Backup Role? - MMQB
Now that Kyle Allen is headed for surgery and is almost certainly out for the year, Alex Smith will take the reins as the team’s starter—and that puts Dwayne Haskins back on the gameday roster and one play away from getting back in. Indeed, I’m told the plan is to dress him Sunday in Detroit as Smith’s backup. And you can write this down: How he handles the next two months could certainly have an impact on his future as an NFL quarterback. The fact is, he’s not going to be treated like a first-round pick wherever he goes next, and so he has to show he can fit into the framework of a team and handle being a backup just the same as he can handle being a starter. I still think there’s talent there. The key now for Haskins is showing who he is as a person. Other teams are watching.

10 Takes on the Bears: Is it time to start talking about draft positioning? - Windy City Gridiron
2. Would the Bears have gone back to Mitchell Trubisky on Sunday if he wasn’t currently injured? When I take the emotion out of it, I tend to believe they would not and that Foles is the starter for the remainder of the season unless he gets hurt. Even so, it’s hard not to wonder if Trubisky’s athleticism would play better in an offense that has one of the worst offensive lines in the league. Trubisky’s pocket awareness was always bad and his overall pocket presence was inconsistent at best, but I do have to wonder if his legs would be helping the team’s offense at least move the ball and keep them out of bad situations like they’ve been in. At least according to reports, Trubisky’s injury is similar to his 2018 right shoulder injury, in which he missed two games. It’s possible that he could be ready after their Week 11 bye week and maybe the team makes drastic changes during that time to gear up for a playoff run. Either way, Trubisky at least made things exciting at times. So far, Foles has been about as boring as it gets and more importantly, just as bad as Trubisky, if not worse.

Falcons cut DE Takk McKinley - The Falcoholic
The Falcons elected not to move defensive end Takk McKinley at the trade deadline, a move that was a little surprising given that he clearly had some value as a young, capable pass rusher, albeit one who was often injured. After the team elected not to make a trade, Takk took to Twitter to blast the team in a tweet where he implied they turned down a 2nd rounder for him in 2019 (refuted by the team later in remarks to the AJC’s Jason Butt) and 5th and 6th rounders for him in 2020, ending with him colorfully calling the teams clowns with a row of emojis. The team fined Takk and announced he wouldn’t be playing in Week 9, but apparently something else happened behind the scenes or the Falcons simply decided they didn’t want him playing for them any longer. They’ve cut the player they traded up for in the 1st round of the 2017 NFL Draft.

4 winners and 3 losers from Week 9 in the NFL - SB Nation
Loser: Detroit Lions. It’s not like anyone really had high hopes for the Lions, but well, the Lions did. There was a defined sense that Detroit believed it could make a run, picking up Everson Griffin at the trade deadline — the kind of move that normally signals belief in a season. Then Sunday happened. The Lions lost by two touchdowns to the Vikings, and while technically their season isn’t over, it sure feels like it is. They’re now last in the division. There’s no way Detroit catches the Packers, let alone the Bears. So we’ll be locked in another year of “well, there’s always next season.” It’s tough to say much more about this hapless franchise. They just can’t catch a break.

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